Parties executing documents as part of a transaction between them must do so in the physical presence of a notary who verifies the identity of the party who will affix its signature to the document, witness the acts of signing the documents and affix his or her own signature and notary seal to the signed document. This is often an inconvenient process requiring special arrangements to assemble the parties and the documents at a given time and place, sometimes requiring travel etc. This process, besides being inconvenient, is often wasteful of time and resources. Moreover, security of the documents, the signatures and the information exchanged during the verification of identities, etc., may be inadequate when subject to the difficulties of arranging and accommodating time and place requirements. What is needed therefore, in a business world increasingly characterized by transactions performed electronically, is a way to utilize the electronic facilities available to the parties to perform the steps in the notary process enumerated above and to do so while maintaining or improving the security of the transaction of the documents involved.